Investing In LinkedIn Premium: Worth Or Waste?

Are you a LinkedIn marketer? Well regardless of what your answer is if you’re any kind of internet marketer, you need to get your hands on LinkedIn as well.

The real question is: why? Well, the simple answer would be the fact that you can market your brand on a platform of 600 million professionals. You just cannot go wrong with any kind of audience because everyone’s a professional.

LinkedIn helps you engage a community of professionals to drive actions and target an audience that is relevant to your business. LinkedIn Premium features can do wonders for your marketing campaign. From generating quality leads to boosting your sales, it’s the most valuable platform for marketers.

While most LinkedIn marketers start out with the free version of the software, there are more options to consider, more ground to cover, and more statistics to analyze to determine whether or not you should upgrade.

I encountered a similar problem when I started out, and now that I have adequate experience, I receive the same questions from my readers – Is LinkedIn Premium worth it? If yes, then which package should I choose? Should I try out the free version first?

Well, worry not, I am here to answer all your queries, continue reading to know the secret to your LinkedIn marketing journey.

TABLE OF CONTENT
1/ Why LinkedIn Premium?
2/ Which Subscription Should I Get?
3/ Why LinkedIn?
4/ Want LinkedIn Premium For Free?

1/ Why LinkedIn Premium?

I have shortlisted this successful case study of the F5 Networks from the IT industry and how they improved their DevOps engagement in EMEA, that’s going to tell you why you should opt for LinkedIn premium.

The Problem

• How to target the DevOps community in EMEA on LinkedIn?
• Barriers to building brand awareness and engagement for F5.
• How to generate quality leads from enterprise-level businesses?

The Solution

• Modify the targeting approach by combining skills and job titles.
• Leveraging Transmission, a certified LinkedIn marketing partner for content, to create best-in-class subject matter including:
  – LinkedIn Sponsored Content and video ads to drive feed engagement.
  – Make use of In-depth white papers and eBooks to act as a lead generation engine.
  – LinkedIn Conversation Ads engage the DevOps community through its favored messaging background.

2/ Which Subscription Should I Get?

Many people start out with free versions of LinkedIn, but is it worth it? Do they yield results?

Well, I’ll be honest with you. A free account will come with a lot of features, they are actually very helpful. However, there will always be limitations. Think about it: LinkedIn is a platform that connects professionals. If there are barriers to this communication, would you be able to get on top of your game? That’s a hypothetical question.

That was one of the many reasons why I always suggest marketers invest in LinkedIn Premium.

LinkedIn mainly offers four subscriptions. Two of them are career-focused, one is recruiting based while the last one is where you come in: Sales Navigator.

Choosing your subscription for the first time can be tricky. A lot of novice marketers go for career-based subscriptions too because they have side quests as well. The point is, as long as you’ve purchased the premium version, the barriers go down.

But here’s where things get tricky. Sales Navigator has features that:

• Acquire new business using the Sales Navigator prospecting feature. Quickly helps you establish buyer interest and detect ways to build rapport.
• Empowers your sellers to expertise in virtual selling, integrate with your CRM to capture activities & free up time for selling.
• Strengthens customer relationships by using LinkedIn’s network to multi-thread across the organization.

These features are perfect for marketers, something that other subscriptions don’t offer.

Observe how LinkedIn Sales Navigator paves a path for your marketing campaign.

Target

• Pursue. Search for the right people and companies with a search experience that delivers the most relevant prospects.
• Use Customizations. Quickly discover the correct people and prospecting leads at your target accounts with suggestions customized for you.
• CRM Integration. Automatically save the prospecting leads and accounts you are selling to and log Sales Navigator activity to CRM with the efficiency of a single click.

Understand

• Be Smart. Use the features to get relevant Sales Navigator insights on your accounts and sales leads, including job changes of your potential buyers.
• Manage. Organize your prospecting leads and accounts with tags and take notes that can be easily synced back to most CRMs. Being organized is ideal.
• Analyze. View the expanded list of who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days; analyze the professionals who take an interest in you.

Engage

• Reach Out. Reach over 500 million professionals on LinkedIn with the sales tool, even if you’re not their connection.
• Be Presentable. Package and share sales content in a formal manner that’s better for both the buyer and seller. Use the features in such a way that they can see the content without downloading, and you get to track who has viewed what.
• Collaborate. Discover the best ways to connect with prospecting leads through your company’s combined network.

3/ Why LinkedIn?

• Tried and tested demand generation channel.
• A partnership approach, using rich insights to build custom audience targeting and leverage LinkedIn content experts, Transmission.
• Established a thought leadership platform.

Results

• Engagement rate 462% of sector benchmark achieved.
• High-quality leads from enterprise-level businesses with a cost/lead of 80% below the benchmark achieved.

Here are some more professionals who have used this platform to its maximum benefit to yield results for their brand:

1. Laura Perkins of Perkins Consultancy uses LinkedIn premium to make lists to track her progress. The statistical data then helps in the analysis. This company has collaborated with hundreds of companies to improve their Document Processing and Management goals with the help of LinkedIn premium.
2. Firas Kittaneh of Amerisleep uses the features of Sales Navigator to keep up with his accounts and leads like never before. Features like insights on lead updates, potential leads, news, and shares from his network and messaging new prospects privately, which is a feature that isn’t available with a basic LinkedIn account.
3. Miles Jennings of Recruiter.com uses LinkedIn premium to create real conversations. Instead of blindly adding connections with no sort of real relationship, the premium account gives him more opportunity to learn about an individual and reach out to them in an organic and genuine manner.
4. Dave Nevogt of Hubstaff.com uses LinkedIn premium to build marketing and integrated Partnerships. They’ve been using LinkedIn to contact key players at companies where they’ve built software integrations and at companies that would be great partners for marketing cross-promotions.

These real-world examples portray your need for LinkedIn premium in the best manner possible, doesn’t it?

Well, if you’re still not convinced then here are the three basics yet some of the most efficient premia features that marketing professionals recommend LinkedIn users for their marketing campaign:

• InMails: It’s an amazing feature that lets you send direct messages to sales prospects and industry leaders who are not yet your connections. The advantage here is that LinkedIn messages are said to have more than an 80% open rate compared to traditional emails.
  InMails are ultimately a great way of getting acquainted with potential connections. To use this feature, simply search for users and click on ‘send InMail’ below the profile headline.
• Using introductions as a networking opportunity by starting conversations with users is another tactic. You can target potential users who may benefit your brand.
  With the free version, you get 5 introductions only whereas premium accounts get 25 to 35 introductions. This feature allows individuals to get acquainted with other users through their LinkedIn connections.
• Open Profile: Another great strategy to enhance your visibility using LinkedIn Premium. This feature lets any LinkedIn user contact you free of charge. You can also contact any other user with an Open Profile even if they are not your connection.

What are you waiting for? You know what you must do now!

4/ Want LinkedIn Premium For Free?

Yes, you heard that right. I’ll let you in on a little secret today. There are tricks to getting a premium account for free for a limited time.

If you’re a novice marketer who is low on funds, then this tactic is for you.

With the help of this trick, you can get a career premium subscription for free (for a limited time).

Here are the steps you need to follow to avail of this:

1. Find LinkedIn employees. This can be done on LinkedIn’s company profile under people.
2. Navigate their profiles and send them a message. Since most of them will have the Open Profile feature, you will be able to send them a message.
3. Ask them for a premium coupon for six months. Explain why you cannot afford it and your plans on using their coupon.
4. Wait. Keep checking your inbox.
5. They replied? Woohoo! They didn’t? Try your luck with a different user.

While Sales Navigator coupons aren’t available, you can use the features of Career Premium as an alternative as well. Remember, at the end of the day, it’s you who must play it smart!

Wrap Up

LinkedIn is one of the best marketing platforms you will ever come across. From its features to its audience, everything is perfectly suited to the needs of a marketer.

I hope, this blog helps you navigate the world of marketing campaigns in a much more efficient manner. Draw examples from real-life professionals, you never know when you end up being one yourself! See you next time.

So, are you ready to conquer LinkedIn?